Oh the joys of the giving season. Here at HPAC the stars conspired to land several birthdays in a short period of time. Last night we had a birthday/going away party for a good friend who will not be with us this holiday season. It's sad that she is gone, but we had a lovely evening with wine and birthday cake eaten with chopsticks.
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| Melkorka with birthday cake |
After our rehearsal today for Dvorak, another wonderful friend guided me to the shopping mall. In many ways, shopping malls here are very similar to the ones in America. The same fluorescent lighting, dry air, overwhelming sounds and smells, and psychologically manipulative measures to encourage over consumption and impulse buying. It takes a lot for me to go there, but my friends here are amazing people and one in particular gave me a fun and engaging personal tour of worthwhile shops and goods. It made the experience not only manageable, relevant, and practical but really enjoyable. And there are lots of fun things to discover in Japanese malls that you might not see in America. For example....
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| Green tea in the department store |
Despite the pleasure of this shopping experience, I still have to contend with an internal timer that is set as soon as I step into a mall. At some point, it goes off and I have to leave, even if I've just found the deal of the century. I can't explain it, but since this is true and I have to live with it, I'm planning on doing my Christmas shopping in spurts and will be returning to the fun world of the mall several times in the next few days. I think I may even be looking forward to it. Japan, what are you doing to me?
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